On November 29, CFCF Asia Pacific 2024, organized by cordacord, was grandly opened in Bangkok, Thailand, and successfully attracted operators, experts and scholars in the field of transmission equipment and optical communication, as well as manufacturing entrepreneurs in the optical communication industry chain in Southeast Asia to join the grand event. With the core theme of “Connecting Colorful Future”, the event aims to discuss how to shape the development blueprint and future vision of optical communication manufacturing enterprises based on the strategic location of Southeast Asia in the context of global economy.
We would like to express our special thanks to HaiTuo Instruments for their strong support and generous sponsorship of the Mekong River Cruise Dinner, which provided an unforgettable social and networking platform for the participants. We would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to the 12 exhibitors, including gigalight, Bozhong Semiconductor, Senko,Join-Mu......whose participation and support added unlimited luster to the success of this forum.
35%+ Local Manufacturers Participation
The forum attracted more than 140 companies and nearly 200 optical communication professionals, of which more than 35% of the participants came from local companies in Thailand and Southeast Asia, mostly from telecom operators including Ais and True, as well as system integrators such as ZTE, HW, Raisecom, Infitel, Utel, Triple T Broadband, and so on. We would like to thank ZTE Thailand and Risecom Thailand for their great support to this conference!
In addition, more than 30% of the delegates came from companies with manufacturing bases in Thailand and Southeast Asia (including Japanese and Korean companies). It can be said that CFCF has had a far-reaching impact on the optical communication field in Thailand and even in the whole Southeast Asia, providing a comprehensive sorting out and promotion for the development of the local and regional optical communication industry.
A number of experts collide and exchange ideas
Mr. Chen Wanglin, Vice Chairman of Thai-Chinese Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCCI), made an opening speech, saying that the optical fiber communication industry provides core support for many important applications in today's world, such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, broadband communication, etc., and it is a new and high technology that deserves the name. It is rare for entrepreneurs in this field from Thailand and even Southeast Asia and China to come together. I have lived in Thailand for more than 20 years, and I have seen the rapid development of Thailand, and now is also facing an important opportunity for industrial upgrading, and I look forward to more high-tech enterprises to work together to build Thailand to a new level of development.
Dr. Jacques Liu, founder of Fiber Optics Online, said: In the global manufacturing industry, technological innovation and industrial upgrading are driving the industry towards a new round of development. We have always encouraged enterprises to find their own characteristics, in the face of today's situation, what should we do next? For this reason, Dr. Liu himself visited Thailand three times this year, and this time he even worked in Thailand for one month continuously, visiting local enterprises in the optical communication industry chain to understand their views on the way out and opportunities of the optical communication manufacturing industry in the current environment.
Fouad (Frank) Jaffer, Secretary of FNCA Asia-Pacific Fiber Optic Networking Association, said in his welcome speech that CFCF is a bridge to promote the cooperation between Chinese enterprises and the Asia-Pacific region and even the wider region, and he looks forward to working together to build an interconnected, resilient, and future-proof digital environment in Asia and the world.
Then we entered the keynote session, starting with Jacques Liu, who shared his unique observations through his one-month interaction and work with local Thai enterprises. He said: from the perspective of well-known telecom operators such as True and AIS, Thailand has deployed a considerable number of fiber-optic communication lines in the country; from the perspective of tourists, the depth and breadth of Wi-Fi coverage is not enough; from the perspective of communication technology, ZTE's Wi-Fi is not enough; and from the perspective of the Chinese enterprises, ZTE's Wi-Fi is not enough to cover the whole country. perspective of communication technology, ZTE's answer is that it possesses a level of technology comparable to that of China; from the perspective of investors, the world's top Internet vendors prefer to build new-generation data centers in Thailand. In short, Thailand and even Southeast Asia are facing new opportunities, and new opportunities will be gained for the manufacturing industry as well.
Surat Suthirueang (OFF), Solutions Manager from ZTE Thailand, shared the topic of “Empowering Digital Parks”. Surat first shared the situation of ZTE's network construction throughout Thailand, especially in 5G smart factories, and Surat believed that Thailand still has a broad prospect. Surat said that Thailand still has a bright future.
Panupong Sombutpermpoon, Senior Solution Manager of Risecomm Thailand, shared the current situation and needs of public connectivity in Thailand from the perspective of access and core network. He said: Operators are reducing CAPEX and OPEX, but investment in AI/ML is booming, and video surveillance takes up a lot of bandwidth today, so what should be the next step? Will SDH be obsolete and will there be a shift to IP/MPLS P-OTN or cable-based connectivity? This is an opportunity for the optical communications industry and it needs to be worked on together.
Harry Fan from Logana Industrial Park shared with us the investment opportunities and BOI policies in Thailand, which is strategically located in the hinterland of Asia. Based on Thailand and radiating globally is the preferred choice for more manufacturers nowadays. Thailand's main industries include tires, photovoltaic, aluminum products, furniture and PCB, etc., while the relatively prosperous local market includes new energy vehicles, home appliances, communications, cross-border e-commerce, etc. In the last two years, Chinese investors have been rapidly expanding their business in Thailand. In the last two years, Chinese investors have grown rapidly, with more than 3,000 Chinese companies investing in Thailand, making it a new manufacturing hotspot. Logana Industrial Park Group, dedicated to the development of international standard industrial infrastructure and enjoy a number of BOI and IEAT policies, currently has more than 8 large-scale industrial parks in the four provinces of Chonburi, Rayong, Ayutthaya, and Bachchan, with a variety of products and services, such as standard factory buildings and land sales, and at the same time, can guide the solution of the local supply chain, work visas, and labor and employment issues.
Mr. Wang Zhigang, the source of Fuyuan Communication Thailand, said: Fuyuan Communication's production base in Thailand was officially put into production in 2014, and mainly produces and sells fiber optic cables to meet the various standards of the telecommunications industry, and designs and customizes fiber optic cables to meet the special requirements of customers. Having experienced Thailand's transition from cable to fiber optic connections over the past decade, Wang believes that Thailand's optical network construction is still in the developing stage, and that there are still opportunities for fiber optic deployment in video surveillance and industrial parks in the past.
Prof. ATHIKOM ROEKSABUTR from Mahankor University of Technology, Thailand, shared his observations on Thailand's optical communication industry from a scholar's perspective. Prof. ATHIKOM is also a distinguished lecturer of IEEE, and many of his students are working in optical communication companies such as Lumentum, Broadcom, Fabrinet, Coherent, etc. He said that the current optical communication technology is not only about the development of cable connectivity, but also about the development of fiber-optic network. He said that current optical communication technology is not only used for data transmission, but more interestingly is being used in agriculture, test and measurement, nonlinear optics, and quantum communication. He also shared the efforts and next deployment of TISI under the Ministry of Industry of Thailand on communication standards. From an academic perspective, Thailand's optical communication industry is also experiencing innovation and leadership.
Raymond Lai, Technical Director, Asia Pacific, EXFO, focused his presentation on test and measurement strategies to realize the interconnected future. 800G is just the beginning, Raymond said, as new network architectures, open decoupled optical networks, IPoDWDM, edge coherent modulation, and high-speed optical interconnect products continue to advance, and EXFO provides test performance of individual units and complete systems, and evaluates network architectures. EXFO provides test performance of individual units and complete systems and evaluates compatibility with network architectures, including ROADM networks.
Francisco Lee, CEO of IOSolution from South Korea, focused on “Aspherical Lenses for Optical Communication and Automotive Safety”. Francisco said: Aspherical lens manufacturing for optical communication is a start-up product of IOS, and in recent years, further process improvements through automated manufacturing have accelerated the precision and yield improvement of its lens products; and IOS is also planning to launch a new product in 2024. IOS is also entering Thailand in 2024 to develop aspheric lens products for automotive safety (camera) applications in conjunction with Summit, an excellent manufacturer in the automotive parts field in Thailand. Cameras are the only sensing technology that can sense colors and read traffic and road signs. Automotive vision systems powered by image recognition technology for cameras with aspheric lenses can be effectively enhanced to warn of potential safety hazards before they occur. The current partnership with Summit has also allowed IOS to progress this project smoothly.
Lastly, Ms. Tang Rui, Senior Market Analyst from Cordacord, shared “Demand Forecast for AI-Driven 800G Optical Modules”. She shared that although the industry is pushing and expecting the arrival of 1.6T optical modules at the moment, the demand for 800G will still be at its peak in 2025, with 51.2T switches becoming the mainstream at the moment, and the demand will still come from domestic and foreign internet vendors Investment in AI arithmetic. The optical chip under different materials is providing a variety of possibilities for the evolution of the next generation of pluggable optical modules, optical chips, core micro-connectivity devices, core materials such as MT inserts, Faraday, etc. have become the core of the industry chain enterprises to obtain orders. In addition, from the point of view of application scenarios, cross-domain multi-cluster joint training will drive the demand for DCI connectivity and promote the wider application of coherent optical modules.
Afterwards, the discussion session was moderated by Fouad (Frank) Jaffer, Secretary of FNCA Asia-Pacific Fiber Optic Networking Association (APFNA), with the participation of Albert Hu from O-Net Thailand, Jeff from Optical Vault Thailand, Prof. ATHIKOM from Mahanakorn University of Technology, Jacques Liu from O-Net Thailand. They discussed the opportunities and challenges of Thailand's optical communication industry, and shared their experience in building factories in Thailand and resources for talent recruitment and localized business cooperation.
In the journal of this forum, the cordacord team has created an in-depth and comprehensive report on Southeast Asia's optical communication industry, which is not only an authoritative reference for the Southeast Asia map of the optical communication industry, but also an accurate map of the industry. On the journey of globalization, language communication and cultural integration are crucial. For this reason, this forum has specially introduced AI translation tools to promote cross-language and cultural communication and further promote the internationalization of the forum. We look forward to working hand in hand with various enterprises to promote the prosperous development of the optical communication industry, and look forward to meeting you again at the next event.